East of the Sun and West of the Moon
by Pussin Boots
Summary: Freya has gone to live in a castle with the creature she is to spend the rest of her life with, a white bear. But what happens when she learns of a curse, but she learns of it prematurly? But a quest of course!A retelling of the tale of Cupid and Psyche


**Disclaimer:**

I actually own a lot of this story, for once… Anyways, I don't own the legend. The legend is of a girl that is taken away from her family by a bear (she does this of her own free will) when she is promised that in doing this her family will be 'as rich as they are now poor'. She had to then live with this bear in his castle for a certain amount of time. A thing, she doesn't know what, sleeps in her bed with her every night at the castle that she lives with the bear. Once day the girl becomes so homesick that the bear lets her go home for a while. Her mother tells her to take a candle to see who it is she sleeps along side every night. From there she learns of a curse, and goblins.

The tale 'East of the Sun, and West of the Moon', was a fairy tale taken from the myth of Psyche and Cupid. If you are interested about the legend, I would suggest you read the book 'Till We Have Faces', a novel by C. S. Lewis.

Some of the words I use are Old Norse words, some are East Norse, and some our West Norse. The translation of these words will be in parentheses besides the word. Other than that, enjoy and review!

**East of the Sun and West of the Moon**

**Chapter 1: I Heard a Voice That Cried**

By Pussinboots

_I heard a voice, that cried,  
"Balder the Beautiful  
Is dead, is dead!"  
And through the misty air  
Passed like the mournful cry  
Of sunward sailing cranes_

There are only seven villages north of the Seamill River, and only six of them are inhabitable to humans. Out of those six, only three are north enough for a creature such as him to survive with even the slightest comfort. From those three, only two were small enough for him to get away with such a con. He settled with the town that was closest to him.

** Bear **

It was a small town. Right now it was the dead of winter, so the food was certainly not in abundance. The snow, with it being so far north, was quite deep. Even he had difficulty walking through the snows depth, and_ he_ was made for such weather. The snow piled onto the roof tops, whereupon the roofs appeared to sag. There was smoke trickling out of most of the little houses, and there were children playing upon the snow covered road. Continuing up along the road he saw another building, and another, and yet another, each one more decrepit and run down than the last. He continued up the road until it reached an end. It met at a mountains base.

At the base of this mountain was a house. It was old, and made of logs. It may once have been a fine hunters lodge, but now it was merely an old rundown shack that was falling through. He heard very little noise, and saw no smoke coming out of the chimney. He walked closer to the house, and low and behold, through a crack in the wall, he could make out four people. One appeared stooped over, and cold. He sat farthest from the small fire that stood in the center of the room. A little ahead of him, but still behind the other two was a boy, he could not have been older than twelve, but he stood straight and proud, or what, no doubt, the boy thought was tall and proud. Closest to the fire was a woman. She huddled around it, appearing as though she were trying to block any heat from getting to the others. She was not the sort he was looking for. Shaking his head he looked to the last figure. It was a girl of tall stature, though, through the pale light, she did not look too dislikeable. Yes, she was the one, she had to be, she was his last choice.

**Freya**

For as long as she could remember it had been like this, cold, run down, simple, rustic. She did not remember the time her mother constantly spoke of, the time of bliss, and wealth. Her first memory was of her brother helping her up after she had fallen down the hill. It was a steep hill which consisted mainly of rocks and other bits of hard and potentially harmful things. Her brothers face was filled with concern, his blue eyes shined none the less. His eyes always appeared to be smiling, or at least, it used to…

That was her earliest memory, and though it was of her falling down it was one of her happiest. You see, she was not the girl of fairy tales. Growing in the north she was what some people would call barbaric. It was not that she did not know how to cook good food, or to sew, she was plenty good at that. It was simply that she did not have the necessities for the luxuries of simple cleanliness. Her face was always covered in dirt, not that she minded, but as she grew older, and hit puberty, the lack of baths took toll. In the winters, when the water was too cold to bath, she would simply not take baths, and as you could probably guess, it led to this little thing people call acne. She was also too skinny, not that she could do anything about that either. Not only was she those two things, but she was also flat as a board. At the age of fifteen she could still pass as a boy if she wished. The only things that she had going for her was her eyes, and smile. Here eyes were the sweetest blue you ever saw. Her smile could capture you. Her father, a man who was indeed educated, always made sure that the children had some sort of way to keep their teeth clean. He did not wish them to run around toothless; this would have gone badly for them. Imagine living in the barbaric north and having no teeth to eat with! It was merely unthinkable.

Her oldest brother, however, was perfect. Unlike her, he was built for this weather, this northern fury. He was shorter, but not fat. He was strong, lots of muscles. He used to have problems with acne, but he grew out of it quickly. His hair was a dark brown, and his eyes so dark they could pass as black. He was quite the hit with everyone. Whenever they went to town he was surrounded by girls, and the young men quite adored him as well. He was smart, and athletic. What was not to like about him? One day, while they were in town, a ship builder offered him an apprenticeship. They were a poor family and so her brother had at first refused, but when her father heard of her brother's refusal, he said, 'Sigurd, you are a fool', and next thing she knew, her brother was off to be an apprentice.

Her father assured the family that it would be no problem with money, but none the less, her mother was livid. 'Tyr', she would say, 'You are a fool, and I was a fool to marry you'. Her father would then reply, 'Valkyrie, then you are thrice the fool. Once for convincing me to ask you to marry me, twice for saying yes, and three times for commenting on it'. Valkyrie would then pout for the rest of the day, and take it out on whoever she came across.

By the time Sigurd had left to his apprentice ship that the girls father had somehow found the money for, Valkyrie had had three children; Sigurd, the oldest at eighteen years, Balder, the youngest at seven, and her only female child, Freya, who was then fifteen. Freya's life only went down hill from Sigurds leave. He younger brother Balder, was weak, always had been, so he became 'Moðir's (mother) little boy'. Freya was then left the job of helping her father with all of Sigurd's old chores. Soon Tyr grew ill, and Freya took the full load of her father and her older brothers old jobs. She soon grew even skinnier than usual, and the food was still dwindling down.

One night her father collapsed as he tried to help Freya carry in some wood. Valkyrie, once again blaming Freya, got her husband to bed, and scolded Freya. As the night went on they were forced to make a fire, which they all stood around, huddled in blankets. It was on that night that he came to visit.

'_See', said her father, 'This letter, with this letter, finish making the word Mooir, the Norse word for Mother'. Tyr finished writing the words in the dirt with the stick that he held in his worn hand._

'_But why must I know how to not only speak Norse and English', Freya had complained, her nose wrinkling with dislike, 'But also write it. We are too poor to even buy supplies to write with'. Tyr smiled and shook his head._

'_We will not always be this poor Freya, the Gods will look upon us with favor soon'._

'_But when' she whined, 'When'._

_He smiled again, his blue eyes surrounded by wrinkled white skin, 'When you quit complaining'. _

_She finally smiled and laughed, showing the tell tale seven year gap that was her missing two front teath._

** Bear **

He saw, through the crack in the wall, her sit down, and then fall asleep. Soon the other three humans were sleeping as well. This would be the time for his grand entrance. Padding over to the door, leaving foot deep foot prints in the snow, he pushed the door open with his humungous snout. The door flew open, and snow came flying in. The four people were up with a start. In their faces showed great fear.

The girl was the first to stand up. Her hair was a matted mess, her face all red with acne, and her cloths were in taters. Not quite what he was hoping for, but he was out of choices, time was running out. He tried to talk but all that came out was a ferocious growl. They shrank in fear. He rolled his eyes, and attempted again. Moving his gigantic white paws forward, he walked closer to the family and started to speak.

**Freya**

Freya woke to the feeling of snow and cold wind. She shook her head, and looked up. In front of her stood the largest bear she had ever heard of. It was huge, white, and it had the brownest eyes she had ever seen, which struck her as odd. Bears, that is, polar bears, don't have brown eyes. They are generally blue, or they were once they were dead. You never got close enough to see their eyes when they were alive, they would have killed you before you had the chance to yell the pigments.

The bear opened its mouth wide, showing you all of his many, sharp, white teeth. She wanted to turn away but she could not find the courage, though the rest of her family had turned their eyes away from the bear. The bear walked forward, his great paws echoing against the shabby cabin floor. The bear opened his mouth again, convincing Freya that she was about to be eaten, and yet she was still to terrified to move. Then, to her greatest surprise, the bear let out a sound, a gruff, humanoid sound. She looked at him in shock. His face seemed to scrunch up with self-righteous annoyance. He opened his mouth, and this time words came out.

'Give me your daughter and within a fortnight you will be as rich as you are now poor'.

**Bear**

The bear was shocked at the sound of his voice. It sounded so gruff, and course. He looked at the family, and waited for an answer. The girl was still staring at him. He started to repeat what he had just said, 'Give me your-'. He was cut off by the old woman that stood behind the old man, presumably her husband.

'Tyr', she wined. The bear instantly disliked this woman. The man started to shake his head, but the bear's growl made the man grow silent and still. The little boy tugged at his mother's skirt. The old woman bent down to hear the boy, then, shaking her head in approval, she beckoned her daughter closer. She spoke in hushed tones, so he could not hear her.

** Freya **

'You must go with the bear,' said her mother. Her mother's face was stained with dirt, but her eyes sparkled with what Freya wished was hope.

'Mother, he will surely eat me', Freya replied, her voice not as steady as she would have liked.

'If we say no he will surely eat us all', she responded sharply, 'Besides, he I highly doubt he will eat you. If he were hungry he could have eaten all of us by now'.

Before Freya could reply the bear was speaking. 'You daughter will be safe, she will live with me in my castle till the end of our time'.

Freya grimaced at his words, 'till the end of our time'. Surely that couldn't be too long?

'You must say yes', whispered her mother urgently. Her brother had started to voice his approval to her saying yes, and her father merely sat there, broken. Freya started to see the shape her family was in, and she also saw that in truth, she had not choice. So, with great sadness upon her heart, she turned to tell the bear her answer.

** Bear**

They talked for quite a while, it seemed. The bear began to grow uneasy. Time was running out. He had to get back in two days. The girl with the matted hair turned around, a look of defeat on her face. He looked at her with what was a polar bears look of interest.

'I will go with you', the girl said, her voice shaking, as well as her entire body. The bear sighed a sigh of relief and started to walk torwards her, but she shook her head.

'First, I must give my family a message for my brother', she said. He growled in impatience, with in this she stood firm.

'Tell him not that I went with a great white bear', she said to her father calmly, though there were tears falling down his face. 'No, tell him not that' she repeated, 'Tell him, tell him that I went off and married a huntsman and I traveled north with him. Yes, he would believe that. But tell him, tell him that we headed to the forest in the north in search of everlasting friðr (peace), and say it in those words, for it is in those words that he will find his own friðr'. And with that she walked over to the little bed that sat at the far corner of the room. She lifted the mattress and pulled out a box, a box no bigger than his paw and wrapped it, along with a few pieces of the remaining herbs that hung on their walls, into a cloth that she tied around her like a bag. At his signal, she rode stepped onto his back, tucking her hands far into his fur, and they started out the door, and on their way back to his home.

**And now, all you have to do is review!**


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